Ferrari engineer with ‘terrible temper’ has become too powerful and Fred Vasseur must take action

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The Ferrari Formula 1 team is reportedly divided. There’s a disconnect between those working trackside and the support team at the Maranello factory.

Singapore was one of the tracks Ferrari identified as an opportunity to end their victory drought. In the end, they scored just 12 points through Charles Leclerc (sixth) and the penalised Lewis Hamilton (eighth).

Factory simulations gave Ferrari optimism for the Marina Bay weekend, Motorsport Italia explain, but the team realised after one practice session that their car risked disqualification for excessive plank wear. This led them to ‘increasingly extreme solutions’.

Leclerc delivered a brutal assessment of Ferrari after losing out to Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli in the race. Hamilton’s brakes weren’t ‘up to the demands’ of one of the year’s most punishing tracks, and the stewards punished him for repeatedly leaving the circuit as he tried to hold off Fernando Alonso.

Matteo Togninalli epitomises the engineering divisions at Ferrari

Ferrari are aware that they must ‘rebalance the relationship’ between the engineers based in Italy and those on the pit wall. The two ‘souls’ of the team must synthesise if they are to settle on coherent set-ups.

Up to this point, the trackside team, led by Matteo Togninalli, have been in the ascendancy. It’s said that Togninalli has a ‘terrible temper’, but ‘great skill’.

• READ MORE: Fred Vasseur clashed with ‘highly capable’ Ferrari engineer in ‘very tense’ Singapore Grand Prix moment

However, Ferrari can’t accept their performance levels this season – five podiums and zero wins in 18 Grands Prix. It’s clear that the car is fundamentally flawed, but there’s also a feeling that they haven’t extracted its full potential.

It emerged last week that Fred Vasseur had a heated confrontation with Togninalli in Singapore. The team principal must take action, because he and his group of engineers have become too powerful.

Ferrari’s private accusations against the FIA highlight their frustration

Hamilton isn’t satisfied with Ferrari’s methods either. In his latest meetings with the team, he’s called for driver feedback to be given greater weight.

Ferrari will enter 2026, a new era of F1, with fresh hope of challenging for the title, but this year has highlighted the structural and operational weaknesses that must be addressed before they can end their drought.

Intriguingly, there is said to be tension between Ferrari and the FIA. The team feel targeted by ‘extremely frequent inspections’.

This is likely nothing more than a sign of frustration from an embattled outfit. But it has led Ferrari to be ‘ultra-conservative’ for fear of the sport’s governing body picking up the ‘slightest’ infraction.